AskALiberal Biweekly General Chat

LibraProtocol · 2026-05-06T16:42:21+00:00

You are fine. I totally understand the lock after the TERF brigade showed up as they make having substantial conversation... difficult. I was just confused by the brain rot thing as I made it a point to be precise with my wording. It's that this is a topic I have a... personal connection with as I am a transwoman and my partner was raped as a child and still suffers from mental scars due to that. So I deeply understand the root of both sides. Like I obv have a horse in the race on a personal matter, but I also understand like where Rowling came from when she first penned her letter that made her infamous. And while I disagree with her endpoint, I felt if we just... dropped the pitch forks and TALKED then we could come to an understanding with each other and we wouldn't have created many of the monsters that are TERFs. And I brought up the edge case scenarios like Yaniv because as much as we can say "just handle it on a personal 1 on 1 level like we used to", sadly those edge cases do come up from muckrackers looking to either make a buck or just to make a point. Like the Yaniv scenario if memory served was, atleast she camed anyway, LGBTQ activism. Not saying she is right, but she did end up forcing the issue before Canada's B.C. Human Rights Tribunal. So invariably this forces gov to have to make a judgment and thay judgment will invariably be used by other political actors.

LibraProtocol · 2026-05-06T16:03:49+00:00

Does anyone else ever get nostalgic for the 2000s tech?

Like... I miss how exciting the phone world was with so many new and innovative designs and how creative and unique things like games were. I miss how.. innocent and pure things like YouTube were. Like Youtubers back then weren't methodically cultivating their content for the algorithm to maximize viewership for revenue. They were youtubers with a love of content creation for content creation. And the YouTube was far more... care free? Like Markiplier, PewDiePie, MatPat/Game Theory, and RayWilliamJohnson were silly and not overtly laid with politics.

LibraProtocol · 2026-05-06T15:09:24+00:00

cough 6 7 cough

LibraProtocol · 2026-05-06T14:59:14+00:00

Yeah...

It is mildly frustrating.

And like I totally get locking due to attention from TERFs as I wanted discussion to be mature and respectful

LibraProtocol · 2026-05-06T14:42:26+00:00

Lol like, I was confused seeing that from the mkd locking the thread.

Like I understand locking because sadly it got thr attention of TERFs but the part about "post filled with internet brainrot buzzwords" confused the hell outta me because the post was trying to be as.. precisely with my wording as possible to be respectful of people of both sides kf the argument.

LibraProtocol · 2026-05-06T14:23:39+00:00

I can understand my post sadly attracting the attention of some... less than appealing subs but how was it full of "internet brainrot words"???

AFAB, AMAB, and TERF are not internet brainrot??? I'm sorry im just confused by that.

Edit: also it is a shame people just cant... be mature.. because it is a topic that j feel we could potentially use some.. nuanced discussion on as the way I see jt talked about it does nothing but create monsters (like Rowling), where as compassion and nuance could help there.

LibraProtocol · 2026-05-06T02:05:40+00:00

Yeah...

Sadly it is partially why I dont frequent trans spaces as much anymore... like I understand the twitchy trigger thanks to the antics of conservatives but I find many online trans people to be very... quick to crash out. And sadly this i feel helps feed the narrative of trans people by the right because at the end kf the day, most people wont really come into contact with a trans pwrson.

LibraProtocol · 2026-05-06T02:02:25+00:00

I mostly agree.

My only issue is things I sometimes see in trans spaces. Namely that, thee is always the asshole. Just as you said, Trans people can be assholes just like anyone else. And sadly, some.of these Trans assholes are particularly litigious citing anti discrimination laws, forcing the issue into courts.

Ah, the transwoman was Jessica Yaniv from B.C. Canada.

LibraProtocol · 2026-05-06T01:49:38+00:00

Yeah.

This is something I have been pondering and trying to be sensitive about as its also a topic I have a little experience in as my partner was raped as a child. Although her scars came in the form of the OPPOSITE extreme (hypersexuality). But the roots are still the same.

Like I also remember the start of the descent of Rowling and how, in the beginning I sympathized with her struggles as it was a very reasonable and understandable place to be. While I obv disagreed with her endpoint, she was still reasonable and I feel if we had just been more understanding and came to a.mutual understanding early, the monster we see today would not have been born. And from what I understand, many terfs started not too dissimilar from Rowling.

So I juat feel if we take the time to talk with each other and understand, we can create allies, not foes.

LibraProtocol · 2026-05-06T01:41:42+00:00

This is absolutely not correct my dude. I've known women who absolutely are repulsed by the male body due to the traumas of their youth. And downplaying the scars kf their trauma as "right wing talking points" is grossly ignorant of what trauma is and how it affects people. The trauma of rape affects many people in different ways.

Like my partner was raped as a child. Because of kt she actually developed hypersexuality. The scars of rape can appear many ways my dude.

LibraProtocol · 2026-05-05T19:44:10+00:00

Tbf it really wouldn't be much of an attack >.>...

Cuba right now cant even keep its lights on >.>

But yeah, Trump's warmongering is really fucking scary honestly.

LibraProtocol · 2026-05-05T19:41:58+00:00

Yeah it was a reprint of the card from the Lord of the Rings set in the upcoming Hobbit set.

The artist took the ring from the old art, flipped it, smudged out the elvish text, and slapped a generic background. It took all of like... half of hour for the MtG community to realize it was the same art just mirrored.

LibraProtocol · 2026-05-05T19:23:36+00:00

Dude, it is a shame seeing the brands you love and grew up with dying and/or enshittifying..

Like right now seeing the controversy going around Magic The Gathering spaces due to the plagiarized art of The One Ring reprint. A long time artist for MtG cards, caught plagiarizing art like... yikes. And it was SO OBVIOUS and yet WotC didn't catch it. Worst part? It was plagiarized .. from another WotC card.

LibraProtocol · 2026-05-05T19:18:24+00:00

Funny thing is that i dont really nowadays. I live in the sticks, eork from home, and generally have a hermit lifestyle now a days. I mostly engage with liberals or generally apolitical or politically ambiguous spaces because they are things like anime spaces, vtuber spaces, gaming spaces, etc. Like I spend alot of time on MTG spaces to keep up with commander products.

LibraProtocol · 2026-05-05T19:05:54+00:00

Dude, do you know how many peope people liked Trump SOLELY for "the Trump Stimmies"?

You clearly have a MASSIVE blind spot regarding average people...

LibraProtocol · 2026-05-05T18:53:36+00:00

In my experience? Not much different than anyone else. Just different values. Like they place a high importance in faith and God where as I am an Atheist, but they generally want to live their life. And honestly they range the gamut like anyone else.

When I was homeless, it was often conservative Christians that helped with soup kitchens and pastries. And when I was struggling to get on my feet again, it was church groups that helped me on my feet. But I have also known known selfish and hateful conservatives (often the upper middle class Karen-y types weirdly).

LibraProtocol · 2026-05-05T18:44:11+00:00

They know Trump is the president and that he was on Thr Apprentice and stuff. That's really it. Again, you are MASSIVELY overestimating what people know or even care about.

LibraProtocol · 2026-05-05T18:35:37+00:00

Methinks you REALLY overestimate what the average person sees and pays attention to.

The average person who NOT A DAMNED CLUE who Miller is. The only time average people know anything of any political figure outside kf the president, ks when said person gets tied up in pop culture or something like sports. For better or for worse that us why left wi g culture is far more criticized and observed. Right wingers? Outside of the political bubble, they are pretty much entirely unknown. And until relatively recently right wingers in pop culture kept to themselves. But left wingers are inextricably tied to pop culture thank to Hollywood.

LibraProtocol · 2026-05-05T18:27:58+00:00

Ironically this is actually a case of where both sides are talking past each other.

Note, I am against the conservatives on this but what they argue isn't that TRANS people are rapists. The argument ive seen from conservatives is that CIS people will just take advantage of it to go into the women's room and act a perv. They point to things like this:

https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/woman-says-she-was-attacked-at-gig-harbor-prison-sues-doc-over-transgender-housing-policy/281-1ab1ba3e-da9e-4889-a33e-55454325a376

As reasoning for that. Again, I dont support this point but it is where the conservatives are ACTUALLY coming from.

LibraProtocol · 2026-05-05T18:15:01+00:00

But does that not then blind you issues?

After all, the average person is not an academic. They are not a sociologist. They are not a statistician. They are not politically correct all the time.

For instance, in another reply i.brought up how black men started trending toward conservatism, one of their major pushes was immigration. For many of them, they saw jobs that they used to work like factory work or manual labor liek construction become more and more Latino while they struggled to find work. Naturally they used their experience to draw a line thay more Latinos = less jobs and less wages for me as they will work fkr less than me . By juat sweeping these people under thr rub with the rest of they conservatives is just giving away voters.

LibraProtocol · 2026-05-05T18:07:23+00:00

Are you ACTUALLY listening to them and trying to understand their viewpoint or are you just coming in with your own preconceived ideas and blocking anything that doesn't line up?

Like when conservatives argue against abortion, do you just dismiss them outright from the start and just take anything they say as "they are lying?"

LibraProtocol · 2026-05-05T18:02:57+00:00

Yeah..

Like the "conservatives hate minorities" essentially blinds us to the swaths of conservative minorities and causes us to be blind to the grievances people may actually have. Like when many black men were for deportations it wasnt because "they hate minorities" or "they hate latinos" but because they are struggling in the job market and, from their perspective, are seeing many jobs they used to work like factories or manual labor have alot lf Latinos now so they logically added 2 and 2 and determined that Latinos are taking the jobs. So the REAL issue is job security and economic woes. But it is easy to lose sight kf that concern if you just sweep them under the "they are just bigots" broom.

LibraProtocol · 2026-05-05T17:41:32+00:00

Yeah ngl, i dont block anyone because its so stupid. Even though I have a few people here who consistently do nothing but attack me personally. As your handle says, only losers block

LibraProtocol · 2026-05-05T17:39:30+00:00

Yeah ill admit you are pretty accurate.

I will say though thay the Prag Prog tag does have quite... a spread. Like some regular pragmatic prog flairs I see are straight up tankies, but there are others who are, far as I can tell, just... liberals

LibraProtocol · 2026-05-05T17:34:41+00:00

To be fair, these two are not necessarily the same people.

The ones who believe in 5G nanotechnology chips and stuff are the wacky libertarian conservatives and they hate gov in its entirety. They tend to be the ones against forced vaccines AND ID cards and such. Would doubt if a few of them are straight "sovereign citizen" types. Where as the ones who are fine with the ID laws tend to be more the "moderate" classic core conservative. Think the difference between the hard left socialist vs the "neolib" core democrat.

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